Komoriuta
by MrsPattinsonDiggoryCullen
Summary: Kaoru Hitachiin is dead. Yet somehow he's still here. His mission is to save the one he loves from his fate. The catch? Once he completes it, he'll leave both her and this world.  Full Summary on Profile, based on Muto by KuraandHana
1. Prologue

_**Prologue**_

The first thing that Kaoru noticed was the wailing of the sirens.

They sounded distant...like they were miles away from him.

Gradually, the fog lifted from his mind, and he recognized more of what was happening around him.

And he wished he hadn't.

Crying. Screaming. Blood. Tears.

_What happened?_

Slowly, very slowly, he managed to open his eyes. He winced in the brightness of the noon sun. His eyes scanned his surroundings wildly, desperately searching for information on what was happening. Finally, his eyes settled on Liza Hayashi—his girlfriend, his one true love, and one of the two most important people in his life. She was on her knees, her head buried in her hands, her entire figure wracked with heart-wrenching sobs.

"Liza—" Kaoru struggled to sit up. All of the blood rushed to his head. "Liza, what happened?" She didn't appear to hear him.

Kaoru managed to move over to her.

"Liza, I'm ok, just tell me what hap—"

He stopped. He stared at his hand.

_It had gone right through her._

He had tried to put a comforting arm around her shoulders...and it went straight through. Like she was made out of thin air.

_Or maybe he was._

"Liza, Liza listen to me! I'm right here! Can you hear me? _Liza!" _

"Kaoru!"

Kaoru turned and saw his twin, Hikaru, running towards him.

"Hikaru, thank God! I don't know what's happening, but—" Kaoru stopped talking again, staring down at himself in wonder. He had run to embrace his twin, but went right through him again. He turned around and gasped at the sight.

No.

It couldn't be.

_No!_

He saw his body, bruised, broken and bleeding on the ground.

"Maybe it's a dream," he murmured, running over to his body. "This _has _to be a dream. Crazy things happen in dreams, right? Maybe if..." He tried to reposition himself back in his body, willing his spirit to bond with his person. It didn't work. Dizzily, he stood up and looked down at his form.

It was no use.

_He was dead._


	2. Chapter 1: Ghost

Chapter 1: Ghost

"I can't believe this is happening to me," Kaoru muttered, casting his eyes wildly around the room. "This has to be a mistake!"

He was sitting in a hospital room with his family and friends, staring at his motionless body in the bed.

Yes, _his _body. _His _battered, bruised, hooked-up-to-machines body.

He had been declared Dead on Arrival, but the doctors went to special lengths to try to revive him, given that he was one of Master Ootori's friends. Despite their best efforts, nothing kept him from flatlining. The words still echoed deafeningly in his skull…

"_Time of death: 15:32."_

The nurses were covering his body with a sheet, unplugging all of the machines. He looked down at the row of people sitting in the room. Kyouya sat at the far end, furiously scribbling in his notebook with a frown on his face. _Trying to figure out how much revenue we'll lose,_ he thought cynically. Next was Hunny, sobbing loudly into Mori's shoulder. Mori was stoically looking up and away, as if gazing into the distance. He looked at Tamaki, staring at him with a shocked expression, and Haruhi, wringing her hands as silent tears fell down her cheeks. He let his eyes skip over his family, unable to handle the sight of his mother crying, his father barely holding it together, and his twin staring at the floor, shoulders shaking. Then came Alyx, with an arm around her sister's shoulder and a quivering chin. Finally, his gaze settled on Liza, sitting next to him.

"Liza," he pleaded. "Liza, honey, look at me. I'm here. I'm _right next to you._ Can't you see me?" He knew it was fruitless; it hadn't worked any other time. But he had to try. He tried to take her hand, but he went straight through.

"_Liza!"_ He was desperate. He tried to shake her, hit her, hug her, _anything_, but nothing worked. He leapt out of his chair, frustrated.

"_Look at me!"_ he screamed, trying to throw his chair across the room. His hands went straight through. _"Tamaki! Hunny, Mori! Kyouya, Haruhi! Mom, Dad! Hikaru!" _He broke down, falling to his knees. _"Why can't you look at me?"_

"They can't hear you, son." Startled, Kaoru whipped around to see a group of three people standing in the doorway—a middle-aged man, a girl around his age, and a young boy holding the man's hand. Kaoru's face lit up and he ran toward them.

"Thank God! You have to help me! Something's wrong, my friends can't see me—"

"That's because you're dead." The smile slid off of Kaoru's face as quickly as it appeared.

"But—but that doesn't make sense. How can I be dead when I'm here?" The girl rolled her eyes.

"Always the same stupid questions," she muttered.

"Kimi, be quiet," the man snapped. "I honestly don't know why you hang around here if you're just going to harass people." He turned back to Kaoru with a gentle smile.

"My name is Hikedi. Miss Rude over there is Kimi, and this is Daisuke." The boy looked up at Kaoru, sucking his thumb, then hid behind Hideki. The man smiled. "He's shy."

"Ah…ok, nice to meet you…I'm Kaoru Hitachiin." Kaoru faltered, unsure of what he should do. "Can—can you tell me why I'm here? What I am? Or…I don't know, anything?"

"Why don't we go sit down? This may take awhile."

"Yeah, that's another thing. How come I can sit in chairs but not move them or pick them up or anything?"

"Well," Hideki said as he led Kaoru to an empty room, stepping through the door like it was fog, "we're not entirely sure. I guess it's one of those mysteries of the universe that doesn't get explained."

"Though with practice," Kimi chimed in, "you can move stuff. See?" She screwed up her face in concentration, then moved the chair about an inch to the side before collapsing into it with exhaustion. "It's really hard, though, and takes a lot of energy."

"Hang on," Kaoru said confusedly. "Can you please tell me more about what I am and why I'm here?"

"You have a mission, Kaoru. That's why you're here," Kimi said, tucking her feet up under her on her chair.

"Wh-what?"

"Sometimes when people die, they leave a task unfinished," Hideki explained. "When that happens, they stay behind. When they finish their task, they move on."

"Wait—you mean I'm a ghost?"

"Or an angel," Daisuke said softly.

"Right, Daisuke," Hideki said gently. "We don't really know the answer to that question. We may be ghosts, angels, spirits—but whatever we are, we're here until we complete our mission."

"And how do we know what that mission is?"

"Well, that's the problem," Kimi mused. "You've gotta figure it out for yourself. Which is why I'm still here," she added in an undertone.

"So, Hideki, is your mission to help new g—people like me?" Hideki shook his head sadly.

"I don't think so. If it was, I'd have moved on by now. But at this point, I've chosen this as a mission, and I don't think I'll try to find my 'real' one. This is more important, and this is where I'm needed." Kaoru was quiet for a long time, taking in all of the information.

"And how do you suggest I find my mission? I mean, do you have any tips?"

"My guess would be to investigate your death. Find out all the details. Then, if that doesn't yield anything, be with the people you love. Maybe someone is in danger, and that's why you were sent here. Or maybe someone is sick and you're supposed to comfort them. There are a lot of possibilities. I would suggest finding out everything you can, and maybe somehow it will come to you." Kaoru nodded, looking down at the floor.

"Well…thank you, I guess." What did one say to a man who had explained the "rules" of being a ghost? "I'm…going to go back to my family now. But thank you. And, ah, good luck. To all of you." He smiled, then quickly left the room.

"Hey, Kaoru?" He turned and saw Kimi coming up the hallway to talk to him. "Look, the only reason I hang around this hospital is so I can be with people who see me. I know being a ghost can be lonely sometimes…if you ever want to just talk to someone, or to not be alone, just stop by, ok? I can try to teach you how to move stuff, and I've heard that if you practice long enough you can even make yourself visible to humans. Maybe we could work together?" Kaoru didn't quite know what to say. She looked so hopeful…

"I'll—I'll have to see. Maybe, yeah. I mean, I just found out about this, I need to spend some time trying to figure everything out. But…yeah, it might be nice to work together." He gave what he hoped was an encouraging smile, then hurried back down the hall to his room, passing through both people and objects. One thing was for sure: being a ghost was going to take a lot of getting used to.


End file.
